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AMERICA'S  CONQUEST 
OF  EUROPE 


BY 
DAVID   STARR  JORDAN 


Chancellor  of  Stanford  University 


BOSTON 
AMERICAN    UNITARIAN   ASSOCIATION 

1913 


tf 


COPYRIGHT,  1913 
AMERICAN  UNITARIAN  ASSOCIATION 


TO 

HENRI  LA  FONTAINE 

SENATOR  OF  BELGIUM 
PROPHET  OF  INTERNATIONALISM 


PREFATORY  NOTE 

The  essay,  "America's  Conquest  of  Europe," 
was  prepared  at  the  request  of  Senator  Henri  La 
Fontaine,  and  published  simultaneously  at  Brus 
sels  in  the  French  language  under  the  title,  "Ce 
que  1'Amerique  peut  Enseigner  a  1' Europe." 

The  second  address,  entitled  "World  Peace  and 
the  Treaty  of  Ghent,"  was  delivered  in  English  at 
a  world  congress  of  heads  of  secondary  schools, 
held  in  Ghent,  August  6,  1913. 


PAGE 

AMERICA'S  CONQUEST  OF  EUROPE  .      .  i 

LA  FONTAINE'S  APPEAL 3 

AMERICA'S  LAPSES 4 

INTERNATIONALISM  IN  AMERICA    ....  6 

THE  ENGLISH  NOTE  DOMINANT  ....  7 

THE  MELTING  POT 8 

^THE  ANGLO-SAXON  ALLIANCE  10 

INTERLOCKING  BONDS  OF  CIVILIZATION     .      .  n 

AMERICAN   DEMOCRACY 13 

"AMERICA  MEANS  OPPORTUNITY"      ...  14 

THE  INDIVIDUAL  AND  THE  STATE  .     .      .      .  15 

"PARIS  IN  AMERICA" 16 

THE  IDEALS  OF  AMERICA io/ 

AMERICAN  PROSPERITY 20 

THE  DEMOCRATIC  STATE 21 

THE  TEST  OF  NATIONAL  SOLIDARITY  ...  22 

AMERICAN  FEDERATION 24 

NATIONS  AS  JURISDICTIONS 24 

THE  CANADIAN  BOUNDARY 25 

NATIONS  AS  "POWERS"  .  26 


Contenw 


PAGE 

THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  EUROPE    ....  30 

OPEN  DIPLOMACY 32 

THE  SECRET  TREATY 33 

THE    MONROE   DOCTRINE   AND   THE   DRAGO 

DOCTRINE 35 

THE  CONTROL  OF  THE  SEA 37 

THE  SEPARATION  OF  RELIGION  FROM  POLITICS  38 

JUSTICE  AND  BENEVOLENCE 39 

LABOR  AND  CAPITAL 42 

THE  GROWTH  OF  GREAT  FORTUNES     ...  42 

THE  RULE  OF  PROPERTY 43 

PRIVILEGE  IN  DEMOCRACY 45 

MILITARISM  IN  DEMOCRACY 46 

THE  MAN  AND  THE  STATE 47 

AMERICA  AND  WORLD  PEACE 48 

THE  MOVEMENT  OF  CIVILIZATION  .      .      .  51 

DEMOCRACY  AND  PEACE 51 

WORLD   PEACE  AND   THE  TREATY  OF 

GHENT                  52 


Ammra'a  (toqu^st  0f 


I  wish  in  this  essay  to  say  a  serious  word 
to  the  citizens  of  the  great  republic,  to  its 
future  leaders  in  its  thought  and  action.  I  wish 
them  to  think  earnestly  of  the  part  American  in 
fluence  must  play  in  the  world  history  of  our 
century.  It  is  for  us  to  help  cure  the  accumulated 
evils  of  the  older  civilization.  Those  men  in 
Europe  who  look  furthest  into  the  future  hope  for 
the  salvation  of  Europe  through  ideals  brought 
back  from  practical  service  in  America.  One  of 
these,  Senator  Henri  La  Fontaine,  of  Brussels, 
has  asked  me  to  write  and  to  speak  in  his  native 
country  on  the  hope  of  his  life,  "The  Conquest  of 
Europe  by  America."  I  hasten  to  say  that  he 
does  not  mean  conquest  by  force  of  arms,  for  we 
have  no  interest  in  such  conquests  and  no  belief 
that  victories  thus  won  result  in  any  permanent 
good  to  any  nation.  Nor  do  w€  mean  financial 


'&tnetica'0  Conque0t  of  (Europe 

conquests,  the  floating  of  imperial  loans  or  the 
permeation  of  any  part  of  European  business  by 
financiers  from  the  New  World.  Still  less  do 
we  celebrate  a  shoppers'  contest  on  the  Place  de 
1'Opera  or  among  the  dazzling  bargains  of  the 
Bon  Marche.  Nor  does  the  trail  of  American 
tourists  who  cross  with  silver  the  palms  of 
Europe's  servitors,  all  the  way  from  Piccadilly  to 
the  Pyramids,  awaken  in  me  any  pride  of  nation 
or  of  race.  The  only  permanent  conquest  is  that 
of  ideas.  •'  America  stands,  has  always  stood,  for 
two  ideals  from  which  she  cannot  escape,  for  they 
are  fundamental  in  her  origin  and  in  her  growth. 
These  are  internationalism  and  democracy,  and 
these  ideals,  being  invincible,  must  conquer 
America  and,  through  her,  reconquer  Europe. 
And  as  both  are  incompatible  with  war,  their 
final  triumph  marks  the  end  of  spoliation,  of 
militarism,  and  of  that  relation  between  nations 
which  breeds  suspicion  and  hatred.  The  conquest 
of  the  world  by  the  ideals  of  internationalism  and 
democracy  marks  the  coming  of  universal  peace. 

[2] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

La  Fontaine's  Appeal 

In  an  address  at  Baltimore  in  191 1,  La  Fon 
taine,  the  veteran  prophet  of  international  life, 
used  these  striking  words : 

"Emigration,  perhaps  more  than  war,  has  de 
prived  the  old  historic  countries  of  their  most 
energetic  and  fittest  ones  to  build  the  progressive 
and  wealthy  people  you  are  on  this  side  of  the 
Atlantic.  You  are  for  us  Europeans  the  beloved 
Brotherland.  Do  not  forget  that  Europe  is  al 
ways  and  will  still  remain  for  you  the  beloved 
Motherland.  Europe  is  now  for  America  what 
Greece  was  for  Europe.  Europe  has  liberated 
Greece.  America  has  to  liberate  Europe  from  its 
burdens,  its  prejudices,  its  hatreds.  It  is  your 
duty,  it  is  your  highest  duty,  to  reconcile  outside 
your  borders  the  people  you  have  reconciled  ~A/& 
within  your  borders.  For  indeed,  the  American 
people  is  at  present  the  true  international  people. 
It  is  the  elect  people  which  alone  can  further  in 
ternationalism  and  can  transform  all  of  the 
peoples  of  the  earth  into  a  family  of  nations,  a 

[3] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

brotherhood  of  men,  an  international  people. 
For  colonization  is  not  mainly  done  by  men  and 
by  capital,  but  also  by  ideas,  by  example,  by 
experiment." 

America's  Lapses 

We  may  freely  admit  in  the  beginning  that 
America  has  not  always  been  true  to  her  own 
ideals,  and  that  she  has  not  always  clearly  seen  her 
own  future.  She  has  had  her  own  lapses,  moral 
and  social,  some  of  these  because  of  associations 
with  Europe  and  through  imitation  of  glories  alien 
to  her  history.  If  she  had  been  true  to  herself  she 
would  never  have  known  a  single  foreign  war. 
She  has  no  part  in  those  greeds  and  jealousies  of 
money  or  of  race  which  still  keep  up  turmoil  in 
Europe.  Her  war  with  Spain,  with  its  eagerness 
for  exploitation,  its  tinsel  imperialism  and  its 
pride  of  participation  in  "world  politics,"  repre 
sents  the  worst  of  these  lapses,  and  its  evil  effects 
are  long  in  passing.  But  though  the  inception  of 
this  affair  was  European  in  method,  its  continu 
ance  has  been  characteristically  American.  In- 

[4] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

stead  of  exploitation,  we  have  brought  to  the 
Philippines  education  and  sanitation.  We  have 
expended  on  them  a  hundred  times  more  than  we 
have  received,  and  if  ever  imperialism  can  be 
respectable  we  have  made  it  so. 

Another  false  movement  has  been  in  the  build 
ing  of  warships  and  forts  in  America.  This  lacks 
the  motive  for  similar  extravagances  in  Europe, 
because  the.  peace  of  the  new  world  is  nowhere 
threatened.  But  with  us,  as  everywhere,  the 
military  spirit  grows  with  the  money  spent  on  it. 
The  more  mouths  fed  by  the  State  the  greater  the 
clamor  for  the  feeding  of  still  more.  We  have 
also  to  reckon  with  the  desire  for  giant  decora 
tion,  for  big  navies  for  sheer  bigness'  sake,  the 
feeling  that  this  is  the  richest  and  most  progress 
ive  nation  on  the  globe,  and  that  as  such  she  can 
beat  old  Europe  at  her  own  game  even  though 
that  game  be  not  worth  the  candle. 

But  with  all  lapses  and  delinquencies  the  "fact 
of  internationalism  and  the  ideal  of  democracy 
have  been  and  must  always  remain  with  the 
United  States,  and  from  the  United  States  these 

[5] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

ideals  will  react  with  greater  and  greater  force  on 
the  thoughts  and  deeds  of  Europe. 

Internationalism  in  America 

Internationalism  is  the  heritage  of  America, 
not  of  choice  at  first,  but  of  necessity.  She  has 
perforce  grown  up  with  this  ideal,  because  no 
other  was  possible.  She  became  the  cosmopoli 
tan  nation  of  the  world  because  of  her  complex 
origin.  With  this  origin  she  could  be  nothing 
else.  In  a  new  civilization,  in  the  struggles  of 
the  frontier  each  man  is  rated  for  what  he  is 
worth.  Under  these  conditions  no  one  cares  for 
the  petty  precedences  of  rank  or  race.  What  a 
man  can  do  in  the  next  twenty-four  hours  out 
values  any  question  as  to  who  were  his  an 
cestors. 

On  a  railway  train  not  long  ago  some  one  was 
overheard  to  say:  "This  is  the  land  where  all 
hate  dies.  My  father  was  German;  my  mother 
was  French.  What  do  I  care  for  all  that?  I 
am  an  American.  The  old  hatreds  and  rivalries 
are  nothing  to  me." 

[6] 


amenta's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

The  English  Note  Dominant 

America  was  English  first.  In  language,  in 
spirit,  in  conscience  and  in  government  it  is  still 
England  which  dominates.  For  the  English 
race,  above  all  others,  with  its  adaptation  for 
cooperation  and  for  compromise,  is  the  builder  of 
free  states. 

It  was  the  chosen  among  the  Englishmen  of 
three  centuries  ago  who  founded  the  germ  colo 
nies  of  Virginia  and  Maine  and  Massachusetts 
Bay.  In  the  following  years  it  has  been  the  like- 
minded  from  their  own  nation  and  from  others 
who  have  crossed  the  seas  to  enter  into  their  work. 

The  first  who  came  were  the  bold,  the  free,  the 
self-ruling,  the  pleasure-scorning  element  of  Eng 
lish  life.  They  came  to  escape  from  the  state- 
church  and  the  church-state  that  they  might 
worship  in  their  own  fashion  and  according  to 
dictates  of  their  individual  consciences.  They 
detested  the  law  of  primogeniture,  which  thrust 
the  hated  spirit  of  precedence  into  the  bosom  of 
every  family.  They  abhorred  the  law  of  entail, 

[7] 


's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


which  burdened  the  land  with  the  curse  of  privi 
lege  even  to  unborn  generations. 

They  had  caught  from  France  the  spirit  of 
liberty,  equality,  fraternity,  but,  as  bents  the 
calmer  blood  of  the  north,  they  gave  this  spirit 
a  constructive  interpretation,  and  the  idea  of 
equality  was  to  them  especially  rich  in  practica" 
results.  Equality  before  the  law,  equal  access 
to  land,  to  education,  to  professions  and  trades. 
equal  access  to  legislation,  —  each  of  these  con 
ceptions  broadened  out  into  the  spirit  of  democ 
racy. 

And  after  England  came  other  nations  of 
Europe,  each  with  its  own  part  and  in  its  own 
degree,  giving  its  contingent  of  free-born  men. 
The  admixture  of  blood  gave  strength  and  ver 
satility  to  the  rising  nation.  But  withal,  the 
dominant  note  is  English  still,  with  as  many  di 
vergences  from  the  England  of  to-day  as  from  the 
England  of  the  Stuarts. 

"The  Melting  Pot" 

In  later  years  other  immigration  has  come,  not 

[8] 


America's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

alone  the  bold  in  search  of  adventure,  of  new 
homes  and  new  freedoms,  but  the  weak  and  the 
oppressed,  "the  beaten  men  of  the  beaten  races," 
who  flee  from  war  taxation  in  search  of  living 
wages  and  of  daily  bread.  But  all  these  are 
cast  into  the  same  melting  pot  and  in  most  of 
them  there  arises  a  clear  response  to  the  call  of 
free  institutions. 

In  this  melting  pot  of  America  all  the  old 
racial  antipathies  disappear  and  all  hereditary 
hatreds.  There  is  no  final  distinction  of  British 
or  German,  of  French  or  Italian,  of  Spanish  or 
Slav,  of  Dutch  or  Scandinavian,  or  of  Jew  or 
Gentile.  The  average  American  is  as  cosmo 
politan  in  origin  and  relationship  as  is  royalty 
in  Europe,  though  for  a  different  set  of  reasons. 
But  in  America  there  is  no  distinction  of  common 
or  noble,  of  high  or  low,  of  aristocracy,  bourgeoisie 
or  proletariat,  except  as  these  are  artificially 
emphasized  in  the  industrial  strife  we  have  in 
herited  from  Europe. 


[9] 


america'0  Conquest  of  dBurope 

The  Anglo-Saxon  Alliance 

To  the  international  mind  of  America,  there 
seems  no  need  or  pertinence  for  an  Anglo-Saxon 
alliance  as  against  any  other  people.  In  so  far 
as  such  alliance  is  desirable  or  humanly  possible 
it  exists  already  in  a  common  sympathy  and  a 
common  literature.  It  would  be  weakened  by  a 
stated  agreement  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  group  to 
swell  each  other's  fleets  with  dreadnaughts.  The 
true  bond  of  union  of  the  Greater  Britain  in 
volves  no  rupture  with  the  Greater  Germany  or 
the  Greater  France  or  the  Greater  Scandinavia  to 
which  we  in  America  likewise  claim  allegiance. 

To  the  American,  "Pan-Germanism,"  "Pan- 
Slavism,"  as  he  hears  these  expounded,  seem  a 
meaningless  return  to  ideals  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
They  remind  him  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire, 
which  never  was,  and  should  never  be;  or  still 
more  they  hark  back  to  Pan-Islam, — the  futile 
dream  of  the  fighting  Turk. 

There  is  nothing  in  aggrandizement  of  race, 
as  such,  which  appeals  to  the  American,  the  child 
of  all  European  races.  That  such  races  are  en- 

[10] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

nobled  by  conquest  of  lesser  tribes  and  by  their 
undigested  exploitation  he  does  not  believe.  In 
the  eyes  of  the  American  even  England's  great 
ness  does  not  rest  on  her  Indian  Empire,  but 
rather  in  spite  of  it. 

Interlocking  Bonds  of  Civilization 

Within  the  last  forty  years  there  has  grown  up 
a  new  world  in  Europe,  a  new  world  in  civiliza 
tion.  The  old  conception  of  the  states  of  Europe 
as  opposed  to  one  another  and  mutually  destruc 
tive  must  pass  away  in  the  broader  aspects  of 
civilization.  The  days  of  Bismarck  are  almost 
as  far  away  in  the  perspective  of  history  as  are 
those  of  his  great  prototype,  the  Hun,  Attila. 

The  growth  of  international  life  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  features  of  this  new  relation.  The 
extension  of  travel,  the  spread  of  commerce,  the 
achievements  of  science,  the  exchanges  in  educa 
tion,  all  these  tend  to  make  a  great  melting  pot 
of  the  whole  civilized  world.  Neither  in  his 
business,  in  his  pleasures,  nor  in  his  intellectual 
pursuits  is  the  educated  man  anywhere  limited 


ica's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


to  any  one  country.  All  rational  human  interests 
are  connected  by  interlocking  bonds  of  many  kinds, 
joining  one  people  with  another.  The  hundreds 
of  international  congresses  held  every  summer  the 
world  over  and  covering  almost  every  general  in 
terest  of  men  is  the  strongest  possible  evidence  of 
this  interlocking,  and  all  this  constitutes  an  in 
ternational  bond  not  to  be  lightly  severed.  A 
declaration  of  war  between  nations  is  now  little 
less  than  an  attack  on  civilization  in  all  its  most 
cherished  aspects,  social,  moral,  as  well  as  finan 
cial.  The  lines  of  national  policy  taken  for 
granted  a  half  century  ago  are  fast  becoming 
impossible,  their  very  suggestion  being  ruinous. 
And  into  this  melting  pot  the  nations  of  Asia 
must  enter,  not  by  mixture  of  blood  but  by  align 
ment  of  spirit,  each  in  the  proportion  to  which  it 
has  been  reached  by  the  spirit  of  internationalism. 
The  influence  of  America  tends  toward  in 
ternational  conciliation.  It  involves  the  recogni 
tion  of  men  as  men,  each  valued  for  what  he  is 
or  what  he  can  do.  Blood,  origin,  education,  — 
each  of  these  has  its  place,  but  only  as  a  factor  in 

[12] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

the  final  result,  the  qualities  on  which  each  man  is 
judged. 

This  is  the  spirit  of  the  Vie  Internationale,  the 
common  life  and  common  sympathy  among  civil 
ized  people,  regardless  of  national  boundaries. 
This  international  life  constitutes  the  final  and 
lasting  basis  of  international  peace. 

American  Democracy 

As  the  history  of  America  rests  on  international 
ism,  so  is  her  social  fabric  built  on  democracy. 
Historically  her  democracy  has  a  double  origin. 
Its  theory  was  French,  its  practice  was  English. 
The  French  philosophers  furnished  the  one,  the 
reaction  against  British  methods  the  other. 

For  inequality  before  the  law  is  the  foundation 
of  the  polity  of  Great  Britain.  Her  constitu 
tion  stands  on  privilege.  Her  social  customs  rest 
on  precedence  of  classes,  precedence  of  individuals. 
England  chooses  her  lords  and  magnates,  her 
patrons  and  tyrants,  long  before  they  are  born. 
These  belong  to  her  system  of  privilege  by  which 
cities  like  Westminster,  Sheffield,  Devonport, 

[13] 


amertca'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

Arundel,  were  so  long  held,  virtually  tax-free, 
by  men  whose  ancestors  received  their  lands  as 
royal  gifts  or  bought  them  as  cow  pastures.  The 
law  of  favor  rises  above  the  law  of  justice. 

"America  Means  Opportunity" 

But  men  of  the  pioneer  type,  the  RoundKead, 
the  Pilgrim,  the  Puritan,  the  American,  have 
hated  favor  and  privilege  and  precedence  of  every 
form.  The  toll  of  the  rich  and  the  dole  of  the 
poor  are  alike  offensive  to  them.  And  this  dis 
like  of  over-reaching  and  of  coddling  has  passed 
over  to  their  descendants.  John  Hay  once  said 
of  the  people  of  the  new  state  of  Ohio:  "They 
looked  on  no  one  as  their  superiors,  and  on  none 
as  their  inferiors.  They  knew  no  want  they 
could  not  themselves  satisfy,"  and  to  this  Senator 
Bayard  added  the  further  note,  "They  were  too 
self-willed  and  independent  to  allow  any  to  rule 
over  them  but  themselves." 

This  in  a  word  is  the  spirit  of  democracy,  of 
the  democracy  of  the  pioneer  if  you  like,  but 
America  is  the  land  of  pioneers,  and  this  fact  still 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

influences  all  her  acts  and  her  institutions.  Her 
people  find  their  political  ideals  in  an  equal  start 
with  equal  opportunity,  in  equality  before  the 
law,  in  equal  access  to  the  land,  in  equal  access  to 
education,  in  equal  access  to  legislation. 

The  Individual  and  the  State 

The  nation  is  built  of  individuals,  each  re 
sponsible  for  himself.  The  state  is  a  mutual 
adjustment  for  their  collective  benefit.  The 
individual  in  America  does  not  live  for  the  state. 
He  is  not  the  property  of  the  state.  The  state 
has  no  control  over  him  except  that  which  the 
individual  has  delegated.  No  supreme  right  of 
conscription  or  of  manhandling  is  reserved  by  the 
state.  It  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  the  state  to 
promote  his  prosperity  or  the  prosperity  of  his 
group.  The  state  is  rather  the  umpire  which 
decides  questions  of  justice,  the  servant  by  which 
the  needs  of  the  many  are  met  by  cooperation  in 
so  far  as  these  needs  are  general  and  consonant 
with  ideals  of  justice. 

As  the  founders  of  our  state  were  frontiersmen 

[15] 


amertca'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

scattered  far  and  wide,  without  cities,  without 
corporations,  without  great  collective  utilities, 
their  democracy  became  that  of  individualism. 
The  demands  of  society,  of  collective  action,  of 
national  power  were  little  considered  because 
such  demands  did  not  exist,  and  they  have  never 
existed  in  the  forms  in  which  Europe  knows  them. 
And  for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  the  native 
American  has  not  often  been  attracted  to  the 
various  doctrines  called  socialism  in  Europe. 
Like  conditions  produce  like  results,  and  the 
growth  of  industrialism  with  its  successes  and  its 
oppressions  brings  the  same  reactions  here  as  in 
Europe.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact,  those  who 
take  part  in  these  reactions  are  for  the  most  part 
recent  immigrants,  whose  ideals  of  government 
even  in  democracy  are  collective,  standing  in 
strong  contrast  with  the  individualistic  democ 
racy  native  to  the  soil. 

"Paris  in  America" 

Fifty  years  ago,  in  1863,  Edouard  Laboulaye 
published  his  remarkable  book,  "Paris  en  Ameri- 

[16] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

que"  (Paris  in  America).  Its  motive  was  to 
show  what  a  great  city  might  become  under  the 
conditions  of  freedom  which  prevailed  in  America. 
This  America  was  idealized,  of  course.  It  rep 
resented  the  noblest  ideals  of  free-born  men, 
rather  than  the  actual  America,  where  the  forces 
of  democracy  must  strive  with  all  the  other  forces 
extant  in  modern  civilization. 

The  influence  of  this  volume  was  widespread 
and  long-continued.  It  was  my  fortune  to  know 
two  men  of  power,  the  one  a  Dane,  the  other  a 
Swiss,  who  were  drawn  to  America  by  the  charm 
of  Laboulaye  and  who  were  not  disappointed. 
They  found  what  they  sought,  and  this  is  a 
perennial  characteristic  of  the  republic.  Who 
ever  comes  to  America,  and  with  whatever  motive, 
will  find  what  he  seeks.  If  he  remains  long 
enough  and  has  penetration  to  look  below  the  sur 
face  he  will  find  America. 

If  one  seeks  religious  freedom  he  will  find  it. 
Our  fathers  provided  for  that.  Whatever  form  or 
type  of  religious  discipline  he  seeks  he  will  find 
accordingly,  but  its  discipline  is  voluntary,  not 

[17] 


America's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

enforced  by  the  state.  If  one  would  escape  from 
all  religious  influence  he  can  do  so  in  America.  It 
is  for  him  to  choose. 

If  one  sjeeks  for  class  distinctions,  for  domina 
tion  of  the  great  over  the  small,  hereditary  or 
otherwise,  he  will  find  it,  but  personal  and  local 
only,  not  wrought  into  the  fabric  of  society.  If 
one  would  find  privilege  enthroned  even  as  in 
Europe  he  will  find  it  in  America  just  as  power 
ful  as  in  Europe,  but  everywhere  surrounded  by 
an  equally  powerful  movement  of  insurgency. 
If  one  would  find  greed,  selfishness,  lust,  vanity, 
intolerance,  anything  which  belongs  to  the  dregs 
of  human  life,  he  will  find  it  in  America,  and  it 
may  be  embodied  in  powerful  and  defiant  institu 
tions.  For  freedom  guarantees  only  freedom, 
and  the  meaning  of  freedom  is  opportunity. 

In  Laboul aye's  work  the  official  Napoleonic 
view,  which  "Paris  in  America"  takes  as  its  point 
of  departure,  is  thus  expressed.  "A  society  with 
out  administration,  without  army,  without  police, 
with  the  savage  liberty  of  praying,  speaking, 
writing,  acting, — each  in  his  fashion, — would  not 

[18] 


America's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

last  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  It  is  the  negation  of 
all  these  principles,  of  all  the  conditions  of  this 
civilization,  which  makes  the  unity  of  our  French 
nation.  In  constituting  our  administration,  hier 
archical  and  centralized,  the  wisdom  of  our 
fathers  has  long  since  raised  France  to  the  first 
rank  and  shown  to  the  French  people  that  liberty 
is  obedience.  There  is  our  glory  and  our  force."* 

The  Ideals  of  America 

The  ideal  of  America  reverses  all  this.  It  is 
the  building  up  of  a  society  in  which  the  govern 
ment  stands  only  for  justice.  The  democratic 
state  does  not  concern  itself  with  right  worship 
or  wrong  worship,  with  right  thinking  or  wrong 
thinking,  with  writing  truth  or  writing  falsehood, 
with  right  acts  or  words  or  ceremo/iies,  except  as 
abuse  of  liberty  may  infringe  on  .the  liberty  of 

*  "Une  societe  sans  administration,  sans  armee,  sans  gen 
darmes,  avec  la  liberte  sauvage  de  prier,  de  penser,  de 
parler,  d'ecrire,  d'agir,  chacun  a  sa  fagon  ne  durerait  pas 
un  quart  d'heure.  C'est  la  negation  de  tous  ces  principes, 
de  toutes  les  conditions  de  cette  civilization  qui  fait  1'unite 
de  la  nation  franchise.  En  constituant  notre  administra 
tion  hierarchisee  et  centralisee,  la  sagesse  de  nos  peres  a 
depuis  longtemps  eleve  la  France  au  premier  rang  et  appris 
aux  Frangais  que  la  liberte  c'est  Tobeissance.  C'est  la  notre 
gloire  et  notre  force." 

[19] 


amertca'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

others.  The  state  is  not  pious,  benevolent,  kind, 
generous,  because  these  personal  virtues  cannot  be 
exercised  by  officialism.  The  paternalism  of  the 
state  is  the  foundation  of  tyranny.  Privilege 
to  the  poor  means  privilege  to  the  rich;  privi 
lege  to  the  rich  means  privilege  to  the  poor,  but 
always  the  more  powerful  arm  secures  the  greater 
privilege.  The  essence  of  democracy  is  that  no 
one,  rich  or  poor,  should  have  a  lease  on  privilege. 

American  Prosperity 

The  wealth  of  our  republic  does  not  rest  on 
its  great  sweep  of  prairies,  its  mines  or  its  com 
merce.  Its  primal  source  is  in  its  free  schools, 
its  freedom  of  movement,  its  freedom  of  choice  of 
trade  or  profession.  The  results  of  this  freedom 
can  be  measured  in  money  as  well  as  in  power. 
Now  as  ever,  "America  means  opportunity," 
opportunity  for  each  man  and  woman  to  prepare 
for  the  work  he  can  do  best,  opportunity  for  each 
to  find  his  place  in  life,  opportunity  for  the  work 
that  needs  to  be  done  to  find  the  man  who  can 
do  it.  It  is  for  each  man  in  America  to  plan  his 

[20] 


America's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

own  career,  to  abolish  his  own  poverty,  to  make 
his  own  escape  "from  status  to  contract."  The 
democracy  of  America  can  acknowledge  no  mas 
ters.  It  has  servants,  not  rulers,  in  its  official 
life  and  the  power  that  makes  these  is  adequate 
to  set  them  aside. 

The  Democratic  State 

While  every  conception  in  Europe  has  its  re 
flex  in  America,  while  every  idea  of  administra 
tion  from  absolutism  to  anarchy  finds  its  earnest 
advocates,  no  other  ideal  seems  likely  to  displace 
the  fundamental  one  of  democratic  individualism 
developed  by  the  fathers  of  the  republic.  This 
ideal  was  expressed  by  Lincoln,  as  long  before 
him  by  Aristotle.  It  is  the  function  of  the 
state  to  establish  justice  among  men  and  to  per 
form  those  acts  of  common  necessity,  contribu 
ting  to  the  preservation  and  enjoyment  of  human 
life  which  collective  action  can  accomplish  better 
than  private  effort.  Further  than  that,  democ 
racy,  which  is  simply  enforced  cooperation, 
should  not  go.  By  the  fact  that  no  theory  of 

[21] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

government  in  America  is  pushed  beyond  the  con 
sideration  of  its  practical  results,  the  republic 
escapes  the  choice  of  any  single  one  among  the 
hundreds  of  remedies  for  political  ills.  There 
is  no  possibility  of  the  adoption  of  anarchism, 
socialism,  collectivism  or  individualism  or  any 
other  system  as  an  exclusive  and  excluding 
finality.  The  people  of  America  are  interested  in 
actual  results  rather  than  any  form  of  logical 
necessity  as  a  ground  for  political  action. 

The  Test  of  National  Solidarity 

The  test  of  national  solidarity  may  be  found  in 
its  freedom  from  the  need  of  force  in  the  conduct 
of  its  affairs.  Let  us  imagine,  if  we  can,  a 
catastrophe  which  should  remove  from  the  United 
States  every  representative  of  coercive  power, 
every  official  of  whatever  rank  from  the  President 
to  the  last  notary  public,  every  representative  of 
army  or  of  navy  or  of  church,  every  policeman, 
every  authority  of  whatever  kind. 

Such  a  loss  might  create  widespread  bewilder 
ment  or  profound  sorrow.  It  would  have  no 

[22] 


's  Conquest  of  OBurope 


relation  to  anarchy.  Except  among  certain  un- 
assimilated  foreign  populations  in  large  cities  it 
would  lead  to  no  violence,  to  no  riots.  The 
functions  of  national  life  would  go  on  as  before, 
all  of  them,  and  unchanged.  One  by  one  com 
munities  would  come  together  and  provide  for  the 
election  of  officers. 

Let  us  apply  the  same  test  to  other  nations. 
In  the  France  of  Napoleon  III  we  are  assured  that 
without  force  society  would  not  endure  "for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour."  What  would  be  the  result 
in  Germany  to-day*?  No  one  can  tell.  The 
German  is  endlessly  patient,  even  under  needless 
burdens.  What  would  he  do,  if  burdens  were 
all  suddenly  thrown  off,  if  "Strengstens  Ver- 
boten"  the  motto  of  Prussian  rule,  were  suddenly 
found  to  have  no  force  behind  it*? 

The  lesson  of  democracy  is  therefore  the  lesson 
of  the  United  States.  It  teaches  the  true  source 
of  power.  It  is  no  new  lesson.  The  people  of 
the  United  States  are  merely  European  people 
who  have  had  some  additional  experience,  have 
learned  some  things  in  their  travels,  perhaps  for- 

[23] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

getting  some  others  equally  important.  In  like 
manner  the  choicest  thoughts  and  worthiest  ideals 
of  America  are  thoughts  and  ideals  long  before 
treasured  by  the  advanced  minds  of  Europe. 

American  Federation 

Another  lesson  from  America  is  that  of  effec 
tive  federation.  The  United  States  is  composed 
of  forty-eight  self-governing  states,  each  an  entity 
within  itself,  managing  its  own  affairs,  with  its 
own  officials  and  its  own  laws,  controlled  by  the 
nation  in  those  interests  only  which  it  shares  with 
its  sister  states.  Some  of  these  states  are  as  popu 
lous  and  wealthy  as  the  kingdoms  of  Europe,  but 
each  is  a  jurisdiction,  not  a  power.  None  can 
make  war  alone,  either  by  force  of  arms  or  force 
of  tariffs  or  by  force  of  discrimination  among 
nations.  While  there  is  all  machinery  for  settling 
disputes  between  states,  such  disputes  never  arise, 
because  no  state  has  the  right  to  use  its  force  to 
promote  private  business. 

Nations  as  Jurisdictions 

The  states  in  a  federal  union  exist  solely  as 

[24] 


ica's  Conquest  of  dEitrope 


jurisdictions.  The  small  ones  have  no  fear  of 
the  large  ones,  and  those  not  touching  the  sea 
suffer  in  no  way  from  their  restricted  position. 
A  "power"  hampered  as  is  the  state  of  Illinois 
would  chafe  against  its  limitations,  and  its  militar 
ists  would  talk  of  fighting  their  way  to  the  ocean. 
But  viewed  as  a  jurisdiction,  surrounded  by 
similar  jurisdictions,  the  people  of  Illinois  have 
no  consciousness  of  limitation. 

And  this  should  be  our  ultimate  conception  of 
a  nation.  Its  boundary  line  should  represent 
merely  the  limit  of  jurisdiction.  That  jurisdic 
tion  ceases  does  not  imply  need  of  violence  be 
tween  the  people  on  the  two  sides,  nor  require 
fortification  for  the  purpose  of  repelling  violence. 
The  Canadian  boundary  is  an  example  of  this 
meeting  of  nations  not  as  powers  but  as  jurisdic 
tions. 

The  Canadian  Boundary 

This  four-thousand-mile  line,  ranging  through 
all  kinds  of  territory  and  all  sorts  of  conditions, 
has  for  nearly  a  hundred  years  not  known  a  fort- 

[25] 


ica's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


ress,  a  soldier,  a  warship  or  a  gun.  It  is  a  peace 
boundary,  the  limit  of  the  jurisdiction  of  one  self- 
governing  nation,  the  beginning  of  that  of  another. 
It  lacks  but  one  thing  to  make  it  ideally  perfect,  — 
the  removal  of  the  custom-house,  the  emblem  of 
national  suspicion  and  greed,  the  remnant  of  the 
days  when  it  was  considered  good  economics  for 
a  nation  to  "have  its  taxes  paid  by  foreigners." 

Nations  as  "Powers" 

Viewed  as  "great  powers"  devoted  to  the  ex 
ploitation  of  the  wealth  of  other  regions,  the 
leading  nations  of  Europe  are  in  constant  turmoil. 
The  German  Empire,  for  example,  is  hampered 
on  every  side.  Her  scant  sea-coast  is  split  in  two 
by  the  presence  of  Denmark.  Her  German  Rhine 
discharges  itself  through  Holland.  The  ports  of 
Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  Antwerp  and  Ostend, 
geographically  hers,  are  occupied  by  alien  people 
whom  she  could  crush  out  in  a  moment,  were  it 
not  for  the  physical  force  of  the  rest  of  Europe 
and,  still  more  effective,  the  moral  power  of  the 
world.  Of  Poland  she  has  too  much  or  too  little. 


America's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

A  large  part  of  the  German  people  live  in  the 
alien  empire  of  Austria-Hungary  and  in  the  re 
public  of  Switzerland,  while  after  forty  years  of 
possession,  German  scarcely  owns  Alsace  or 
Lorraine.  These  states  are  a  thorn  in  the  side  of 
the  Empire,  a  burden  and  a  weakness,  just  so 
long  as  their  two  millions  of  people  are  held  in 
semi-vassalhood  by  the  rule  of  force.  A  free 
republic  of  Alsace-Lorraine,  a  second  Switzer 
land,  half-German,  half-French,  separating  and 
joining  two  great  nations  would  be  a  strength  and 
an  inspiration  to  both.  The  twin  gateways  of 
the  Rhine  held  by  the  power  of  blood  and  iron 
now  form  a  center  of  menace  to  civilization. 
For  the  wrong  done  at  the  Treaty  of  Frankfort 
forty  years  ago  Europe  has  had  to  pay  most  dearly, 
for  it  is  around  the  question  of  Alsace-Lorraine 
that  half  the  crushing  armament  of  Europe  has 
been  built  up.  In  the  discord  this  has  engendered 
the  great  armament  builders  who  know  no  nation 
ality  have  found  their  opportunity.  Germany 
is  hemmed  in  everywhere  by  the  scare  of  old  strug 
gles,  to  her  perennial  discomfort.  For  this  reason 

[27] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

she  suffers  from  the  "Drang  nach  Qsten"  she 
seeks  a  road  to  the  Persian  Gulf,  an  empire  over 
seas,  and  every  form  of  imperial  extension  to  lands 
"under  the  sun,"  which  may  for  the  moment  seem 
plausible  or  possible. 

But  Germany  as  a  jurisdiction  suffers  none  of 
these  limitations.  She  has  all  the  power  which 
can  be  used  for  her  people's  good.  It  matters 
nothing  that  her  sway  is  checked  on  almost  every 
side  before  it  reaches  the  sea.  Other  jurisdic 
tions  intervene,  and  each  of  these  looks  in  its  way 
after  the  public  needs  of  man,  which  are  mostly 
justice,  conservation,  education,  sanitation  and 
peace. 

As  one  of  the  "great  powers"  of  the  world, 
Germany  (with  her  fellow  states  as  well)  is  a 
center  of  friction,  injustice  and  unrest.  As  a 
jurisdiction  Germany  is  busy  with  profitable  and 
constantly  advancing  industries,  with  her  won 
derful  system  of  education  and  her  extensive  pro 
vision  for  all  the  people's  needs.  No  enlarge 
ment  of  boundaries  could  in  the  least  increase  the 
usefulness,  the  wealth  or  the  happiness  of  her 

[28] 


's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


people.  As  a  "power"  Germany  is  a  menace  to 
the  well-being  of  civilization,  as  every  other 
"power"  of  similar  nature  must  be  in  its  degree. 
For  the  prosperity  of  every  people  depends  on 
international  peace,  and  all  power-manifesta 
tions  are  either  actual  or  potential  war. 

The  peace  of  force  is  merely  frustrate  war. 
War  is  a  form  of  world-sickness  from  which  every 
function  of  civilization  suffers,  and  most  of  all 
those  bonds  of  common  thought  and  common 
interest  summed  up  in  internationalism.  To  us 
in  America  as  members  of  an  international  com 
monwealth,  German  in  blood  and  in  sympathy 
as  well  as  English,  all  these  destructive  rivalries 
of  nation  with  nation  seem  mediaeval  and  un 
worthy.  There  is,  in  fact,  something  primitive, 
outworn  and  unprogressive  in  the  spectacle  of  a 
civilized  nation  composed  of  millions  of  clever 
people  trusting  for  its  defense  to  forts  and  ships. 
With  all  the  resources  of  business,  of  science,  of 
education,  of  thought,  to  depend  on  force  seems 
a  lazy,  even  cowardly,  shirking  of  the  higher 
possibilities  of  national  strength.  To  be  sur- 

[29] 


amertca'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

rounded  by  armed  guards,  "holding  the  drop"  on 
all  commercial  rivals,  is  not  a  lofty  conception  of 
a  nation's  greatness.  This  attitude  has  been  as 
disastrous  to  England's  own  peace  of  mind  as 
it  has  been  menacing  to  the  world's  welfare. 

To  escape  from  this  condition  is  not  a  matter 
of  a  day  nor  a  generation.  It  is  not  easy  for 
America  even  to  emancipate  herself  from  reaction 
ary  influences  of  Europe.  There  are  many  in 
terests  in  a  wealthy  nation  who  find  an  aid  or  an 
affinity  in  militarism.  Debt  creates  debt,  and 
those  interested  in  spending  band  together  against 
reform. 

These  matters  proceed  by  slow  progress,  in 
terrupted  by  reaction.  We  are  in  a  period  of 
relapse  at  present,  when  reactionary  forces  seem 
to  be  in  the  ascendant.  But  this  very  fact  with 
its  burdens  and  horrors  may  be  counted  on  to 
turn  the  balance  in  the  other  direction. 

The  United  States  of  Europe 

There  will  be  no  formal  federation  of  nations 
in  this  era.  Indeed,  federation  in  fact  will  come 

[30] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

long  before  it  comes  in  name.  The  United  States 
of  Europe  will  exist  before  it  receives  a  distinctive 
title.  A  single  unified  world-government  with 
centralized  rule  under  one  set  of  men  at  some 
one  place  is  only  a  dream, — and  not  a  cheerful 
dream  at  that.  What  the  world  needs  is  more 
self-control,  more  local  responsibility,  not  more 

N 

governmental  machinery.  Nevertheless,  every 
step  in  removing  injustice,  in  eliminating  sources 
of  friction,  in  extending  common  interests, — as 
the  postal  union,  the  telegraph  union,  inter 
national  law,  international  police  duties,  inter 
national  conferences  and  congresses,  arbitration 
treaties  and  other  agreements, — are  steps  in  the 
direction  of  the  passing  of  war.  To  this  end, 
three  great  contributing  agencies  are:  the  growth 
of  the  popular  conscience,  the  interlocking  of 
personal  interests,  and  the  ruinous  expense  which 
the  progress  of  science  has  brought  to  every 
branch  of  the  military  art. 

All  this  has  its  part  in  the  great  movement 
toward  common  international  life,  "La  Vie  Inter 
nationale"  of  the  dreams  of  La  Fontaine,  a  life 


3merica'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

which  shall  make  war  impossible,  and  will,  in  time, 
do  away  with  exploitations,  with  tariff  barriers 
and  with  all  the  products  of  that  narrow  nativism 
which  considers  only  the  purposes  of  enrichment 
of  the  selfish  few,  the  one  in-group  against  all 
the  out-groups  of  the  world. 

Open  Diplomacy 

Another  lesson  which  the  United  States  may 
teach  is  the  value  of  open  diplomacy.  A  secret 
treaty  or  a  secret  agreement  of  any  kind  on  the 
part  of  our  Department  of  State  has  no  validity 
whatever.  It  was  a  warning  of  Washington  that 
his  nation  should  beware  of  entangling  alliances. 
A  formal  alliance  is  for  the  purpose  of  making 
enemies,  never  of  making  friends.  Friendship 
among  nations  rests  on  common  interests,  on  the 
interlocking  of  minds,  the  interlocking  of  trade. 

In  the  United  States  a  treaty  can  be  entered 
into  only  with  the  open  and  public  consent  of  the 
Senate.  Every  international  relation  is  there 
fore  open  to  the  world.  No  minister,  no  presi 
dent,  no  group  of  men  whatever  can  secretly 

[32] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

pledge  the  nation  to  any  line  of  action.  No 
president,  no  cabinet,  no  minister,  no  congress 
acting  alone  can  make  any  declaration  of  public 
policy.  For  these  reasons  the  United  States  must 
stand  outside  the  tangled  snare  of  concessions 
and  intrigues  we  call  world  politics.  She  must 
play  her  games  of  diplomacy  with  open  hands. 
She  cannot  be  the  secret  friend  of  any  other 
nation.  She  cannot  be  the  secret  enemy,  because 
all  her  acts,  friendly  or  hostile,  are  known  to  all 
the  world. 

The  Secret  Treaty 

The  secret  treaty  in  the  interest  of  imperial 
spoliation  is  the  bane  of  Europe.  It  ties  each 
foreign  office  to  the  service  of  the  most  reckless 
and  greedy  of  its  great  exploiting  interests.  It 
has  reduced  the  chancelleries  of  more  than  one 
nation  to  be  nothing  more  than  the  firm  name 
under  which  its  exploiting  corporations  compass 
their  ends  in  Asia  or  in  Africa. 

The  secret  treaty  is  a  relic  of  the  military 
state.  The  civilized  world  is  still  organized  on 

[33] 


3merica'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

the  mediaeval  theory  that  war  is  a  natural  function 
to  be  expected  in  the  normal  course  of  events,  not 
a  hideous  moral,  physical,  and  financial  catastro 
phe.  In  the  old  theory  as  expounded  by  Machi- 
avelli,  the  prince  has  no  other  business  but  war. 
It  is  the  duty  of  his  ministers  to  find  weak  places 
in  the  defenses  of  other  kings  through  which  war 
may  be  successful,  and  to  find,  after  the  fact, 
excuses  by  which  war  can  be  justified.  The 
secret  treaty,  the  concession  to  a  friendly  power, 
the  artificial  interference  with  a  rival, — all  these 
belong  to  the  days  of  Machiavelli.  If  all  par 
ties  concerned  could  come  out  into  the  open,  where 
the  United  States  is  forced  to  stand,  we  should 
soon  have  an  end  to  the  great  European  rivalry 
of  to-day.  The  Triple  Alliance  and  the  Triple 
Entente  which  follows  it  as  a  shadow, — neither 
the  one  nor  the  other  represents  any  idea  or  pur 
pose  of  any  permanent  value  to  the  world. 

Outworn  ideas  of  national  glory,  outworn  fig 
ures  of  speech  as  to  national  purposes,  outworn 
medievalism  in  our  conception  of  the  state, — all 
these  find  expression  in  the  "secret  treaty,"  the 

[34] 


ica's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


"entangling  alliance,"  which  is  a  chief  obstacle 
in  the  way  of  the  conciliation  of  nations. 

The  Monroe  Doctrine  and  the  Drago  Doctrine 
Historically,  the  influence  of  America  has  been 
exerted  in  opposition  to  imperialism  and  to  in-  / 
fringement  of  the  great  nations  on  the  rights  of 
the  small.  This  is  the  inception  of  the  Monroe 
Doctrine,  which,  in  spite  of  its  perversion  and  its 
wrong  accentuation,  has  protected  Latin  America 
from  the  fate  of  Africa.  That  this  should  now 
be  a  Pan-American,  not  merely  an  American,  doc 
trine  of  the  United  States,  goes  without  saying. 
And  it  must  never  be  allowed  to  degenerate  into 
"a  Dollar  Diplomacy"  which  would  reserve  Trop 
ical  America  as  a  special  "sphere  of  influence"  for 
American  exploitation.  For  the  true  and  final 
form  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  is  found  in  the 
Drago  Doctrine  of  the  republics  of  South  America, 
that  the  force  of  arms  should  not  be  used  as  an  in 
strument  in  industrial  spoliation.  This  doctrine 
the  people  of  the  United  States  should  adopt  as 
their  own. 

[35] 


3merica'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

In  a  recent  decision  of  arbitration  the  King 
of  Sweden  laid  down  this  principle:  that  a  na 
tion  "has  no  right  to  land  troops  in  order  to  pre 
serve  the  property  or  the  rights  of  her  nationals." 
This  principle  has  been  disregarded  in  the  strang 
ling  of  Persia,  the  rape  of  Mongolia  and  of  Tibet, 
in  the  chronic  robbery  of  China,  and  in  the  annex 
ation  of  Egypt,  of  Korea,  of  Morocco  and  of  Trip 
oli.  But  it  is  for  all  that  a  just  and  honorable 
principle..  No  nation,  by  virtue  of  superior 
strength  or  superior  civilization,  is  justified  in  tak 
ing  possession  of  another  for  its  good,  still  less  for 
the  good  of  its  own  exploiting  industries. 

It  is  true  that  some  of  the  smaller  nations  of 
the  tropics  are  subject  to  violent  political  disturb 
ances.  They  have  not  learned  the  value  of  lib 
erty  as  regulated  by  law.  Yet  it  is  highly  prob 
able  that  not  one  in  ten  of  these  periodical  revolu 
tions  is  of  spontaneous  native  origin.  Most  of 
them  are  started  for  purposes  of  spoliation  by  out 
side  adventurers  and  a  large  majority  are  paid  for 
by  agents  belonging  to  one  or  more  of  the  great 
commercial  nations  of  the  earth.  When  the 

[36] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

final  truth  is  known  of  unhappy  Mexico  the  re 
sponsibility  for  her  disorders  will  rest  not  on  her 
martyred  president,  nor  on  the  soldiers  of  fortune 
by  whose  hands  he  fell,  but  on  those,  wherever 
situated,  whose  money  has  kept  these  revolutions 
going.  Mexico,  with  fatal  riches  of  oil  and  gold, 
is  not  the  first  nation  to  be  torn  asunder  by  con 
flicting  "spheres  of  influence." 

The  Control  of  the  Sea 

The  influence  of  the  republic  has  been  always 
thrown  against  another  form  of  imperialism  in 
volved  in  the  phrase  "Control  of  the  Sea." 
America  has  never  claimed  any  such  control,  nor 
has  she  admitted  any  such  right  of  others.  It  is 
a  mediaeval  idea  going  back  four  hundred  years 
to  the  time  when  the  great  seas  were  divided  be 
tween  Spain  and  Portugal.  America  has  stood  for 
the  open  sea,  the  restriction  of  national  jurisdic 
tion  to  the  three-mile  limit,  the  extermination  of 
piracy,  and  in  later  years  for  the  most  important 
doctrine  of  the  immunity  of  merchant  vessels  from 
seizure  or  destruction  in  time  of  war.  To  make 

[37] 


's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


the  high  seas  an  open  highway  to  be  traversed  at 
any  time  in  absolute  safety  by  any  vessel  whatever 
would  go  far  toward  doing  away  with  interna 
tional  war,  and  still  further  in  removing  the 
heavy  and  dangerous  burden  of  naval  protection. 
If  all  military  operations  at  sea  could  be  confined 
to  the  limit  of  a  cannon  shot  from  the  shore,  the 
original  motive  of  the  three-mile  limit  of  juris 
diction,  it  would  represent  one  of  the  most  prac 
tical  triumphs  of  civilization.  The  nations 
should  join  to  make  the  ocean  safe  for  their  mu 
tual  use.  It  is  a  monstrous  anachronism  to  fill  it 
with  floating  fortresses  designed  to  protect  mer 
chant  ships  from  robbery  by  the  very  persons  with 
whom  they  trade.  It  is  never  good  business,  as 
Franklin  once  observed,  "to  knock  your  custo 
mers  on  the  head." 

The  Separation  of  Religion  from  Politics 

Still  another  lesson  from  America  is  the  divorce 
of  religion  from  political  control  and  therefore 
from  the  domain  of  politics.  Absolute  religious 
freedom  exists  in  America  because  the  state  as- 

[38] 


amertca'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

sumes  no  relation  of  any  kind  to  religious  corpor 
ations  as  such.  So  long  as  these  do  not  interfere 
with  the  freedom  of  soul  or  body  of  men  not  be 
longing  to  them,  their  acts  do  not  concern  the 
state.  And  on  no  one  policy  is  there  more  firm 
agreement  in  America,  than  in  the  absolute  sep 
aration  of  church  and  state.  The  public  school 
exists  everywhere  at  the  public  expense,  and  no 
where  can  any  sect  or  group  of  sects  claim  any 
dominating  relation  in  regard  to  it.  To  the  aver 
age  American  the  strife  over  church  properties 
and  church  interests,  so  real  in  Europe,  seems  in 
comprehensible.  The  church,  any  church,  is  in 
every  way  better  off  for  separation  from  the  gov 
ernment.  Whatever  achievement,  whatever  prog 
ress  it  may  make  is  its  own,  and  this  progress  is 
solid,  because  it  involves  no  ulterior  politi 
cal  end. 

Justice  and  Benevolence 

Connected  with  the  freedom  of  the  church  is  the 
freedom  of  the  people  from  other  forms  of  pater 
nalism.  The  state  becomes  benevolent  only 

[39] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

when  it  has  failed  to  be  just.  It  allows  special 
opportunities  to  individuals  only  where  it  has 
denied  opportunity  to  men  at  large. 

The  "old-age  pension"  is  a  convenient  illustra 
tion.  It  has  been  justly  compared  to  the  free  pass 
homeward  granted  to  the  human  wrecks  who  have 
lost  their  all  in  the  gambling  rooms  of  Monte 
Carlo.  It  is  the  shilling  given  to  the  man  run 
over  by  my  lord's  automobile.  In  a  better  sys 
tem  he  would  not  have  been  run  over.  He  would 
not  have  lost  his  money  in  a  vile  resort.  He 
would  not  have  needed  an  outside  pittance  to 
carry  him  through  old  age. 

The  "old-age  pension"  exists  in  England  as 
a  convenient  balm  for  inequality  and  injustice. 
The  best  of  her  workers  have  died  in  her  wars, 
leaving  a  weaker  stock  from  which  she  has  bred. 
These  have  grown  up  unskilled,  in  default  of  the 
schools  that  make  men  strong.  They  have  grown 
up  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  public  house,  sodden 
with  lust  and  beer  and  whisky.  They  have  lost 
the  opportunity  that  should  be  theirs,  and  at  the 
end  their  fellows  must  be  taxed  to  feed  them. 

[40] 


amertca'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

The  tragedy  of  the  East  End  of  London  is  no  nor 
mal  part  of  the  tragedy  of  life.  It  is  no  part  of 
normal  civilization.  It  is  no  part  of  a  nation 
which  has  given  opportunity. 

But  in  America,  a  new  country,  fresh,  unspoiled, 
full  of  life  and  hope,  it  is  possible  to  hold  govern 
ment  to  its  rigid  purpose,  to  develop  opportunity 
by  the  elimination  of  privilege,  teach  men  to  lean 
not  on  government  button  themselves,  and  to  aid 
by  fraternal  giving  those  who  have  fallen  in  the 
press;  not  to  weaken  by  unearned  public  money 
those  who  are  falling  but  who  can  be  made  to 
stand.  The  way  of  the  transgressor  is  hard  and 
we  would  not  make  it  easier  if  we  could ;  we  could 
not  if  we  would.  To  give  a  man  a  chance  to  rise, 
is  to  allow  him  also  the  choice  to  fall. 

The  "old-age  pension"  is,  so  far  as  it  goes,  a 
confession  of  failure  of  government.  Except  as 
a  measure  of  emergency,  its  real  purpose  in  Eng 
land,  it  has  no  justification  in  good  government. 
Clean  up  the  social  atmosphere,  restore  to  the 
people  what  is  rightfully  theirs,  and  they  will  care, 
rare  accidents  excepted,  for  their  own  old  age. 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

Labor  and  Capital 

In  America  the  struggle  between  labor  and 
capital  can  never  assume  the  form  it  has  in  Eu 
rope.  In  a  government  which  stands  for  justice, 
and  which  is  in  no  way  occupied  with  making 
money  for  its  people,  nor  from  its  people,  nor  in 
supporting  exploiting  interests  in  other  lands, 
there  is  no  visible  necessity  for  universal  collec 
tive  ownership.  Where  classes  do  not  really 
exist  there  is  no  pertinence  in  the  artificial  distinc 
tions  of  aristocracy,  proletariat  and  bourgeoisie 
which  have  been  so  laboriously  brought  over  from 
Europe.  If  these  distinctions  exist,  most  of  us  in 
America  belong  to  one  single  class,  that  of  the 
bourgeoisie.  The  use  of  violence  in  social  dis 
agreements  is  treason  to  democracy.  For  under 
democracy  there  can  be  no  permanent  classes,  and 
no  disagreements  which  cannot  be  settled  in  peace. 

The  Growth  of  Great  Fortunes 

There  exist  in  America,  as  elsewhere,  vast  for 
tunes,  disproportionate  to  the  ability  or  the  ef 
forts  of  those  who  control  them.  But  their  his- 

[42] 


's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


tory  has  been  of  short  duration.  They  are  not 
legacies  from  an  unjust  past.  Their  origin  be 
longs  to  the  present.  It  is  mainly  individual. 
Great  luck,  great  skill  or  ingeniously  managed 
privilege  stands  behind  each  of  them.  By  the 
same  means  as  in  Europe,  by  cooperation  through 
interlocking  directorates,  these  great  fortunes 
have  been  made  to  stand  together  and  thus  by  a 
process  of  financial  suction  to  build  up  fortunes 
still  greater.  But  one  most  important  difference 
exists.  Our  national  government,  in  theory  and 
for  the  most  part  in  fact,  stands  aloof  from  these 
combinations.  The  control  of  public  affairs,  even 
of  financial  matters,  is  in  the  long  run  beyond  their 
reach.  Their  influence  on  foreign  diplomacy  is 
limited  because  no  secret  influence  can  control, 
and  the  power  of  money  for  evil  is  mostly  lost  in 
publicity.  In  all  their  operations,  they  are  sur 
rounded  by  an  alert  and  in  the  long  run  victorious 
opposition  of  democracy. 

The  Rule  of  Property 

In  America  property  may  rule,  but  only  for  a 
time.     In  the  earlier  centuries  of  Europe,   the 

[43] 


America's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

period  of  Absolutism,  when  monarchy  was  a  po 
litical  power,  not  a  function  of  society,  it  was  of 
course  true  that  property  ruled.  The  ruler  held 
the  property.  It  was  his  by  force  of  position. 
Not  until  the  money  lenders  of  the  last  century, 
the  Unseen  Empire  of  Finance,  secured  the 
strangle  hold  on  the  nations  of  Europe  was  this 
condition  brought  to  an  end. 

Then  again  property  ruled,  but  kings  and 
nobles  no  longer  held  the  property.  Property 
held  them.  In  Europe  to-day  money  rules,  and 
it  rules  king  and  peasant  alike,  for  in  most  nations 
everything  else  hinges  on  the  imperial  exploitation 
of  foreign  lands. 

In  America  this  is  true  in  a  degree,  but  the  rule 
of  money  has  its  visible  limits.  The  United 
States  belongs  to  its  people,  not  the  people  to  the 
state. 

While  in  Europe  generally,  the  alliance  be 
tween  financial  interests  and  the  government  is 
open  and  avowed,  such  connections  in  America 
have,  proved  fatal  to  political  leaders  and  to  po 
litical  parties.  The  methods  by  which  the  "pow- 

[44] 


's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


ers  of  Europe"  through  their  foreign  offices  bolster 
up  adventures  in  foreign  lands  could  not  be 
used  in  America.  The  diplomacy  of  persuasion, 
threats  or  force  of  arms  in  the  interest  of  private 
ventures  would  be  impossible  here.  The  people 
might  consent  to  "Dollar  Diplomacy,"  but  only 
until  its  nature  is  understood.  The  recent  repu 
diation  of  our  relation  to  the  "Six-Power  Loan" 
to  China  will  serve  as  a  case  in  point. 

Privilege  in  Democracy 

And  here  again  we  must  admit  that  our  demo 
cratic  conception  of  government  has  to  struggle 
for  acceptance  in  America.  The  protective  tariff 
in  theory  and  in  practice  is  a  direct  contradiction  of 
its  principles.  It  is  a  flat  violation  of  the  spirit  of 
the  American  constitution.  It  is  privilege  pure 
and  simple  granted  to  the  few  by  the  many,  in 
the  belief  that  in  the  long  run  the  many  would 
profit  by  it.  Its  purpose  was  to  diversify  indus 
tries  by  letting  the  farmer  help  pay  the  expenses 
of  the  manufacturer.  It  has  had  just  that  effect, 
and  the  farmer  and  the  laborer  are  becoming  in- 

[45] 


Conquest  of  (Europe 


creasingly  discontented  with  its  burdens  and  the 
inequalities  before  the  law  which  are  part  and 
parcel  of  its  operations. 

Militarism  in  Democracy 

In  America  the  army  and  navy,  though  the 
latter  has  grown  beyond  all  reason  through  the 
rivalry  from  England  and  Germany,  still  repre 
sent  a  democratic  ideal.  We  still  hold  to  the 
thought  that  our  officers  are  not  rulers  but  serv 
ants  of  the  people. 

Our  military  element  stands  near  the  parting 
of  the  ways,  for  all  officialism  tends  to  aggrandize 
itself,  most  of  all  that  which  is  associated  with 
pomp  and  with  patriotism.  Militarism  for  its 
own  sake  belongs  to  the  state  in  which  property 
rules.  "It  furnishes,"  says  John  A.  Hobson,  "a 
profitable  support  to  certain  strong  vested  inter 
ests.  It  is  a  decorative  element  in  social  life  and, 
above  all,  it  is  necessary  to  keep  down  the  pres 
sure  of  the  forces  of  internal  reform." 

The  ideals  of  militarism  and  democracy  can 
never  exist  together.  And  this  nation  is  too  far 

[46] 


America's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

given  over  to  democracy  ever  to  do  more  than 
dally  with  the  military  ideal.  In  a  nation  that 
knows  no  caste  and  has  no  aristocracy  other  than 
temporary  and  self-selected,  no  military  traditions 
will  ever  be  permanent.  There  can  never  be  a 
warrior  caste  holding  special  privilege  or  special 
authority.  Military  conscription,  the  manhand 
ling  of  the  individual  in  the  interest  of  the  state, 
is  a  defiance  of  democracy. 

The  Man  and  the  State 

As  a  people,  we  of  the  United  States  are  too 
rich  in  resources  of  wealth,  of  education  and  of  in 
telligence  to  be  controlled  by  influences  of  militar 
ism.  And  thus  and  for  the  same  reasons,  in  the 
republic  of  America,  the  state  exists  for  the  man, 
not  the  man  for  the  state.  This  is  the  funda 
mental  difference  between  German  polity  and  our 
own.  It  is  the  fundamental  difference  between 
the  Eighteenth  Century  and  Twentieth.  And 
let  us  speed  the  day  when  it  may  be  said  not  only 
that  "America  means  Opportunity"  but  that  the 
same  hopeful  word  may  be  spoken  of  Germany 

[47] 


amenca'0  Conquest  of  Europe 

and  England  and  France  and  Russia  and  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  sisterhood  of  civilization. 

America  and  World  Peace 

Within  the  last  few  months  the  President  and 
the  Secretary  of  State  have  planned  a  most  prac 
tical  and  effective  means  of  bringing  American  in 
fluence  to  bear  on  the  problems  of  world  peace. 

The  end  in  view  is  to  relegate  war  to  a  position 
of  last  resort  in  times  of  international  difference, 
to  place  soldiers  and  dreadnaughts  in  the  back 
ground, — not  in  the  front  of  national  movement. 

The  essence  of  this  American  policy  is  that  in 
case  of  friction  between  nations  the  matter  be 
placed  for  six  months  in  the  hands  of  a  joint  high 
commission  of  investigation,  chosen  in  part  from 
the  contending  nations,  the  majority  from 
friendly  neutrals.  These  for  six  months  shall 
study  the  question  at  issue,  neither  nation  in  the 
meantime  demonstrating,  mobilizing  or  increas 
ing  the  armament,  until  the  final  report  is  made. 
After  this  each  nation  is  free  to  choose  concilia 
tion,  concession,  compromise,  arbitration  or  war. 

[48] 


ica's  Conquest  of  (Europe 


And  with  six  months  to  think  it  over,  there  will 
be  no  war.  The  topic  will  leave  the  front  pages 
of  the  newspapers  and  the  populace  will  turn  its 
vagrant  attention  to  something  else.  Wars  are 
waged  for  greed,  for  politics,  or  because  the  mob 
has  been  stirred  by  senseless  speech  for  reckless 
journalism.  And  in  many  cases  this  reckless 
journalism  has  been  carefully  calculated  and  fully 
paid  for  by  those  interested  in  the  sale  of  the  ac 
cessories  of  war. 

The  treaty  of  arbitration  will  naturally  follow 
on  the  treaty  for  investigation.  Courts  will  nat 
urally  supplement  results  of  friendly  offices. 
But  the  agreement  for  friendly  conference  comes 
first  and  is  for  the  present  the  more  important. 
The  treaty  of  arbitration  is  most  valuable,  —  not 
as  preventing  war,  for  a  nation  bent  on  war,  if 
there  is  such  a  case,  will  not  stop  to  agree  to  ar 
bitrate.  The  world  is  finally  ruled  by  public 
opinion.  'Arbitration  treaties  clinch  public  opin- 
ion  and  hold  it  to  its  duty. 

The  present  decade  has  been  characterized  by 
needless,  costly  and  brutal  wars,  the  result  not  of 

[49] 


america'0  Conquest  of  (Europe 

actual  conditions  of  to-day,  but  of  blunders  and 
crimes  committed  in  the  past.  Wars  do  not 
spring  up  afresh  in  our  civilization.  They  spring 
from  old  wars  whose  seeds  were  not  destroyed  by 
peace. 

But  however  dark  the  present  outlook  may  seem 
with  half  the  coined  money  of  the  world  spent 
each  year  on  war  and  war's  accessories,  the  far 
outlook  is  most  promising.  The  cruel  horror  of 
the  Balkan  war,  of  the  "Squalid  War"  and  the 
"Mad  War"  into  which  the  war  for  freedom 
lapsed  at  last,  the  waste  of  armed  peace  and 
frustrate  war  throughout  the  civilized  world, — 
all  these  make  powerfully  for  peace,  for  real 
peace, — the  peace  of  law  and  trust,  and  not  the 
peace  of  force  and  dread. 

And  just  now  is  the  time  when  American  in 
fluence  can  be  most  definitely  crystallized  and 
made  effective.  And  we  are  thankful  that  we 
have  in  the  seats  of  authority  men  who  definitely 
work  for  peace  and  whom  war  and  war's  fripper 
ies  do  not  dazzle  nor  attract. 

[50] 


America's  Conquest  of  (Europe 

The  Movement  of  Civilization 

Lord  Acton  thus  sums  up  the  movement  of 
civilization:  "It  is  by  the  combined  efforts  of 
the  weak  made  under  compulsion  to  resist  the 
reign  of  force  and  constant  wrong,  that,  in  the 
rapid  change  and  slow  progress  of  four  hundred 
years,  Liberty  has  been  preserved  and  secured  and 
extended  and  finally  understood." 

Democracy  and  Peace 

And  as  America  comes  to  understand  her  own 
message  of  democracy,  internationalism  and 
peace,  she  will  carry  this  understanding  back  to 
the  motherland  of  Europe.  The  peace  movement 
is  in  itself  but  a  part  of  the  great  world-movement 
toward  democracy,  the  growing  recognition  of 
the  value  of  the  individual  man,  amid  all  the 
frippery  and  sham  which  have  obscured  or  re 
tarded  his  development. 


Pear?  atth  HIP  amtty 
of 


anb 
nf 


To  the  American,  the  honored  name  of  Ghent 
brings  up  many  and  varied  associations.  It  is  not 
its  wealth  in  memories  of  stirring  scenes;  not  its 
great  bell  Roland;  not  its  imperial  splendors  of 
the  past  nor  its  successes,  industrial  and  commer 
cial,  of  to-day.  It  is  its  relation  to  the  peace  of  the 
world  which  commands  our  first  interest.  A  hun 
dred  years  ago,  a  treaty  was  signed  in  this  city, 
the  Treaty  of  Ghent,  a  document  that  means  much 
in  this  history  of  America,  one  that  foreshadows 
much  in  the  history  of  Europe. 

On  the  24th  day  of  December,  in  1814,  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent  put  an  end  forever  to  armed  strife 
among  the  English-speaking  races.  And  by  the 
same  token,  this  renewal  of  good-will  looks  for 
ward  from  the  larger  Britain  to  the  larger  Europe 

[55] 


CflJorlD  peace  anD  d&fjent  Creatp 

which  shall  put  aside  its  misunderstandings  and 
its  suspicions  in  the  interest  of  the  people's  welfare 
and  the  world's  peace. 

The  needless  war  of  18 12,  between  Great  Brit 
ain  and  the  United  States,  was  not  a  war  of  greec 
nor  a  war  of  conquest.  Had  it  been  either  ii: 
would  have  been  unutterably  futile,  for  both  sidee 
lost  much  and  neither  gained  anything.  It  was 
a  war  for  honor — just  as  futile,  for  no  nation's 
honor  can  be  saved  by  the  wholesale  slaughter  of 
men,  least  of  all,  of  men  in  no  way  responsible  for 
the  assumed  affront.  It  is  true  that  the  mother 
nation  had  taken  certain  liberties  with  the  rights 
of  her  newly  enfranchised  progeny,  and  that  for 
this  infringement  the  people  of  America  asked  an 
expiation  in  blood.  But  the  field  of  battle  carries 
no  balm  for  a  nation's  honor.  The  sole  content 
of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  was  "Cease  firing."  On 
both  sides  men  were  weary  of  the  pointless  strug 
gle  and  at  its  end  each  nation  stood  where  it  was 
before.  Even  the  question  of  honor  was  left 
unsatisfied,  forgotten  in  the  stress  of  land-fight 
and  sea-fight.  This  question  remained  in  abey- 

[56] 


peace  anD  ©Sent  Creatp 


ance  for  nearly  a  century  later,  to  be  settled  quietly 
and  rationally  at  last  by  a  tribunal  at  The  Hague. 
And  the  hue  and  cry  having  ceased,  only  the  few 
concerned  on  either  side  knew  anything  of  the  set 
tlement.  This  final  adjustment  without  strife, 
without  emotion,  should  serve  as  a  type,  whenever 
questions  of  honor  occur  between  men  and  na 
tions.  In  the  fine  words  of  Admiral  Winslow, 
"There  is  no  difference  between  nations  so  trivial 
that  they  will  not  fight  over  it  if  they  want  to 
fight.  There  is  no  difference  so  fundamental  that 
it  cannot  be  settled  in  peace  and  mutual  respect 
if  both  sides  are  willing  to  be  just  and  patient." 

On  its  face,  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  settled  noth 
ing,  but  in  this  very  fact  lies  its  importance.  It 
decided  nothing  because  it  registered  merely  the 
results  of  war.  The  war  decided  nothing.  The 
treaty  marked  the  resolution  of  two  nations  to 
stop  fighting,  because  by  war  nothing  could  be  de 
cided.  Between  the  lines  one  may  read  the  verdict. 
It  implies  that  war  is  not  glory,  but  calamity,  that 
its  continuance  brings  nothing  but  evil.  . 

Thus  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  was  in  fact  the  germ 

[57] 


(KEJorlD  peace  anD  ©Jjent  Creatg 

of  the  modern  movement  against  war  and  war's 
accessories.  Very  soon  after  this  treaty  two  pa 
triots,  whose  names  should  be  honored  whenever 
men  meet  to  cement  international  friendships,  met 
and  passed  to  the  next  state  of  agreement.  Sir 
Charles  Bagot,  Governor  of  Canada,  and  Richard 
Rush,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States,  prepared  the  Rush-Bagot  Convention. 
This  provided  that  there  should  be  no  warships  on 
the  Great  Lakes  which  join  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  And  ever  since  that  time,  for  nearly  a 
hundred  years,  this  long  boundary,  now  nearly 
4,000  miles  long,  has  been  a  boundary  of  peace 
without  a  warship  or  a  fortress,  a  soldier  or  a  gun. 
Its  line  traverses  territory  of  every  sort,  mountain, 
valley,  forest,  river  and  lake.  It  has-  been  dis 
puted  nearly  all  the  way  "with  all  the  brutal 
frankness  common  to  blood  relations."  But  there 
has  been  no  battle,  no  war  scare,  no  suspicion. 
Where  there  are  no  soldiers  there  is  no  war. 
When  nobody  is  loaded,  nothing  explodes.  It  is 
plain  enough  that  with  the  border  bristling  with 
fortresses,  collisions  would  have  been  inevitable. 

[58] 


OOorlB  Peace  attD  (Sfjent  Creatp 

A  border  unfortified  is  a  border  protected.  In 
the  absence  of  force,  law  rules,  and  peace  is  the 
duration  of  the  law.  Law  is  another  name  for 
peace. 

And  this  Canada,  the  bone  of  contention  in  mil 
itary  times,  is  now  the  permanent  guarantee  of 
peace  among  the  peoples  of  the  Greater  Britain. 
Connected  with  the  United  States  by  the  closest 
ties  of  blood  and  of  business,  of  common  interest 
and  of  common  destiny,  with  England  by  the  ties 
of  blood,  of  tradition,  and  of  loyalty,  there  is  no 
room  for  strife  among  the  three.  They  meet  as  ju 
risdictions,  not  as  powers.  Sooner  or  later  the  na 
tions  of  Europe  must  meet  in  like  fashion.  In  the 
fullness  of  civilization,  no  nation  should  threaten 
another  through  armed  force.  Without  offense 
there  is  no  need  of  defense.  A  jurisdiction  is  a 
creation  of  law,  an  exemplification  of  order  and 
peace.  A  "power"  is  a  danger  to  itself,  a  menace 
to  its  neighbors.  The  present  relation  of  Euro 
pean  powers,  bankrupt  in  credit,  armed  to  the  teeth, 
is  an  expression  of  a  double  catastrophe.  It  is  de 
structive  to  itself  and  to  civilization  as  well.  And 

[59] 


(K3orlD  peace  anD  ©ftent  Creatg 

the  present  conditions  in  Europe  cannot  be  perma 
nent. 

A  suggestion  as  to  the  ultimate  future  of  civil 
ized  nations  is  found  in  the  self -controlling  colo 
nies  of  Great  Britain,  and  in  the  self-governing 
states  of  the  federal  Union.  Each  of  the  United 
States  is  an  independent  jurisdiction  so  far  as  its 
local  affairs  are  concerned,  while  each  is  bound  to 
refrain  from  all  that  could  injure  the  others.  This 
shows  in  outline  the  possibilities  among  the  states 
of  Europe.  For  effective  federation  it  is  not  nec 
essary  that  the  central  power  should  control  the 
details  of  government,  or  even  that  these  should 
be  unified  in  any  great  degree.  The  conception 
of  the  United  States  of  Europe  in  which  all  poli 
tics  shall  radiate  from  a  central  capital,  with  a 
common  ruler  and  a  common  ministry,  offers  a  very 
remote  prospect,  and  not  a  cheerful  one  at  that. 
The  lines  of  union  should  be  moral,  economic,  and 
commercial  rather  than  political,  and  in  reality  the 
basis  for  such  union  exists,  could  it  only  be  visual 
ized  in  the  face  of  Europe's  costly  militarism. 
The  International  Postal  Union,  the  Telegraph 

[60] 


peace  anD  ©ftent  Cteatp 


Union,  the  Monetary  Union  are  effective  signs  and 
results  of  the  Union  that  actually  exists.  And  the 
hundreds  of  international  Congresses  all  over  the 
civilized  world,  of  which  the  present  meeting  at 
Ghent  is  not  the  least  example,  show  what  should 
be  the  animating  spirit. 

As  jurisdictions,  the  nations  of  Europe  neither 
fear  nor  hate  one  another.  A  traveler  passes 
from  one  to  another  secure  in  his  safety  and  in 
his  rights.  The  nations  of  great  population  and 
wide  extent  have  no  real  superiority  over  the 
smaller  states,  while  in  most  matters  of  personal 
freedom  and  individual  prosperity  the  citizens  of 
the  lesser  nations  have  the  positive  advantage. 
'To  find  a  great  nation  in  Europe,"  says  Albert 
Cobat,  "one  must  look  among  the  smaller  states." 

It  is  only  where  a  nation  is  considered  as  a 
"power"  and  not  as  a  jurisdiction,  that  the  advan 
tage  lies  with  the  larger  state.  It  is  the  advantage 
that  goes  with  large  battalions.  A  "power"  can 
protect  itself  by  force;  a  jurisdiction  depends  on 
justice  and  law.  A  "power"  can  do  mischief  at 
a  distance,  a  jurisdiction  is  bounded  by  its  own 

[61] 


peace  anD  ©jjent  Creatp 


affairs.  It  is  true  that  each  power  disclaims  any 
intention  of  aggression.  But  no  other  power  trusts 
this  disclaimer.  Yet,  viewing  Europe  from  the 
outside,  it  seems  fully  justified.  No  one  can  be 
lieve  any  one  power  in  Western  Europe,  outside 
its  mediaeval  Balkans,  has  designs  on  any  other. 
The  war  scares  of  Germany  and  England  seem 
to  the  outside  spectator  among  the  idlest  of  super 
stitions.  They  are  comparable  to  the  fear  of  the 
Feng-Shui,  the  Earth  Spirit,  so  long  used  to 
frighten  the  Chinese.  They  are  the  deliberate 
work  of  men  whose  gains  depend  on  the  people's 
fears.  No  civilized  nation  of  to-day  could  afford 
to  attack  another,  not  alone  on  account  of  the  cost 
piled  high  upon  its  crushing  debts  of  the  past,  but 
rather  on  account  of  the  shock  to  civilization,  the 
dislocations  of  finance  and  of  commerce,  the  dis 
locations  of  friendships  and  of  common  ideals,  the 
reversion  to  the  ape  and  tiger  morals  of  mediaeval 
days,  when  the  citizen  was  the  prey  of  the  army 
as  well  as  the  slave  of  the  state. 

The  people  of  the  American  Republic  are  simply 
Europeans  who  have  had  some  additional  experi- 

[62] 


jKHorlti  peace  anD  <Sfiem  Creatp 

ence.  They  have  learned  much,  while  they  have 
forgotten  some  things  they  might  well  have  re 
membered.  They  have  thrown  off  the  influence 
of  caste  and  aristocracy.  They  have  revolted 
against  hereditary  assignments  of  their  station  in 
life.  They  have  risen  from  "status  to  contract." 
They  have  undertaken  to  do  for  themselves  much 
that  in  Europe  is  done  by  the  state.  In  particular 
they  have  made  their  own  churches,  each  accord 
ing  to  his  own  conscience.  They  have  founded 
their  own  free  schools,  and  they  have  established 
a  government  which  belongs  to  the  people,  and  to 
the  people  who  belong  to  themselves.  No  man 
in  America  is  owned  by  the  state,  not  one  required 
as  a  sacrifice  to  the  nation  except  as  he  may  dedi 
cate  himself  of  his  own  free  will  and  accord  to  a 
cause  he  may  himself  deem  adequate. 

America  is  an  international  state  built  up  from 
freeborn  men  of  every  race  and  nationality.  In 
so  far  as  her  people  are  true  to  themselves,  they 
have  cut  loose  from  all  race  prejudices.  The  old 
antipathies  cannot  survive  in  a  new  land  where 
men  are  valued  merely  as  men,  each  for  what  he  is 

[63] 


peace  ana  ©ftent  Cteatp 


or  what  he  can  do,  not  all  for  his  origin  or  his 
relationships.  And  because  America  is  interna 
tional,  two-thirds  British  but  not  all,  and  for  the 
rest,  German,  French,  Scandinavian,  Dutch,  Flem 
ish,  Italian,  Spanish,  Slav,  she  can  have  no  race 
basis  for  nationality.  What  is  impossible  seems 
to  her  unnecessary.  America  is  now  a  large  part  — 
the  largest  part  —  of  the  Greater  Britain.  But  for 
all  that  she  cannot  be  British  in  any  narrow  and 
exclusive  sense.  The  Anglo-Saxon  Union  will  be 
moral  and  intellectual,  never  political,  and  least 
of  all  military.  An  alliance  of  offense  and  de 
fense  exists  to  make  enemies,  not  friends.  At  the 
best  it  joins  nations  at  the  lowest  point  of  contact, 
and  for  the  least  worthy  of  purposes. 

All  this  makes  it  possible  for  the  American  in 
some  degree  to  interpret  the  aspirations  of  men  of 
other  nations.  And  it  gives  to  the  United  States 
as  an  international  nation  a  duty  as  well  as  a  priv 
ilege  to  lead  in  the  movement  towards  interna 
tional  peace,  the  effort  to  throw  war  backward 
into  the  place  of  the  very  last  resort. 

When  we  compare  the  forty-eight  states  of  the 

[64] 


22!orlD  peace  anD  ©fient  Creatp 

American  Union,  we  find  differences  in  race,  in 
surroundings,  in  products,  in  conditions  of  life, 
as  great  as  those  which  exist  in  all  Northern  and 
Western  Europe.  Outside  of  traditions  inherited 
from  bygone  centuries,  there  is  no  fundamental 
cause  why  these  European  states  should  not  form 
a  similar  union,  no  reason  why  they  should  not 
acknowledge  in  peace  their  common  character  and 
their  common  needs,  at  the  same  time  casting  aside 
all  semblance  of  evil  designs  upon  one  another. 
This  should  be  the  easier  because  no  such  designs 
can  now  exist.  Those  of  the  past  are  already  frus 
trated  by  their  crushing  cost,  by  the  grim  fact  that 
never  again  among  civilized  people  can  war  be 
made  to  pay. 

Consciously  or  not,  and  in  the  degree  that  they 
understand  their  own  position,  the  American  people 
are  ready  to  offer  their  mediation  to  Europe.  As 
a  whole,  they  have  no  illusions  in  regard  to  war. 
They  have  seen  and  known  it  for  what  it  is.  It  is 
to  them  the  most  hideous  of  calamities,  financial, 
physical,  moral.  Their  own  civil  war,  hard 
fought  against  their  brothers,  yawns  like  a  chasm 

[65] 


COorlD  peace  attD  ®btnt  Creatp 

across  their  history.  Into  this  chasm,  the  democ 
racy  of  the  new  world  came  near  its  irretrievable 
fall.  The  loss  of  the  best  young  manhood,  North 
and  South,  which  this  war  entailed  has  never  been 
made  good.  Those  who  fell  were  the  best  we  bred 
and  with  the  loss  of  the  best,  a  nation  fills  its  ranks 
with  the  sons  of  weaker  men.  For  each  slaughter 
the  world  over  dwarfs  the  breed  of  men  that  fol 
lows.  The  unreturning  ever  were  the  brave. 

Three  foreign  wars  the  American  people  have 
fought — against  their  judgment  and  against  their 
conscience — incidents  they  hope  never  to  see  re 
peated.  These  wars  were  of  the  nature  of  experi 
ments,  for  a  democracy  is  at  the  mercy  of  experi 
menters.  It  learns  by  its  own  mistakes,  the  only 
way  a  people  ever  learns.  Whatever  the  people 
find  wrong  the  nation  must  condemn.  All  na 
tions  in  the  long  run  are  ruled  by  public  opinion, 
the  United  States  most  of  all. 

Chief  among  all  our  inheritances  from  England 
is  what  we  are  pleased  to  call  the  "Puritan  Con 
science."  And  as  a  result  of  this  conscience,  every 
act  in  America  finds  its  final  test  in  moral  standards. 

[66] 


GHorlD  peace  anD  ©Sent  Creatg 

Moral  standards  as  well  as  standards  of  success 
rank  much  more  highly  in  America  than  in  any  other 
land.  This  is  in  proportion  as  tradition  and  con 
ventionalism  are  weaker.  So  the  people  may  con 
sent  to  unrighteous  deeds,  but  only  for  a  time. 
They  make  many  mistakes  in  the  rush  of  events. 
They  may  apply  wrong  standards  wrongly.  But 
if  they  do,  the  same  case  comes  up  again  for  settle 
ment.  At  the  last  the  people  settle  it  aright,  be 
it  in  ten  years  or  in  a  century.  In  this  fact  lies 
the  hope  of  America,  the  hope  of  democracy. 

And  the  cool  judgment  of  the  American  people 
is  concluding  that  all  war  is  wrong.  It  is  brutal, 
wasteful,  wild,  irrational.  "There  never  was  a 
good  war,  nor  a  bad  peace,"  said  the  earliest  and 
greatest  of  our  sages,  Franklin.  Between  democ 
racy  and  militarism  there  is  eternal  feud.  For 
the  army  has  been  ever  the  right  arm  of  autocracy 
and  aristocracy,  the  upholder  of  caste. 

The  movement  towards  peace  is  a  part  of  a 
greater  movement  towards  democracy,  towards  the 
recognition  of  the  rights  and  value  of  the  individ 
ual  man.  And  so,  America  offers  no  apology  for 


peace  anD  (Sfient  Cteatp 


the  fact  that  she  stands  for  peace.  She  is  afraid 
of  no  nation,  she  cherishes  no  resentment  toward 
any.  There  may  be  conditions  in  her  future  in 
which  war  is  the  only  solution,  but  she  can  imagine 
no  such  condition,  nor  do  her  friends  imagine  them 
for  her. 

In  due  season,  it  should  be  not  impossible  to 
determine  all  boundaries  by  friendly  agreement 
and  in  the  interest  of  the  people  concerned.  To 
treat  all  international  affairs  by  mutual  concession 
and  mutual  cooperation,  in  honor  preferring  one 
another,  is  the  meaning  of  international  peace. 
The  castled  crags  that  crown  the  hills  that  lie  to 
the  southward  and  eastward  tell  us  of  the  days 
when  the  robber  barons  and  their  knights  lived 
on  the  people  by  pillage  and  by  ransom.  Later 
the  payment  of  tribute  was  found  a  convenient 
substitute,  less  cruel  than  pillage  and  more  certain 
than  booty.  Slowly  the  process  of  federation 
brought  these  peoples  nearer  and  nearer  together, 
blending  the  small  groups  into  the  larger  ones 
called  nations.  The  spirit  of  federation  proved 
the  antidote  to  plunder  and  tribute.  A  nation  is 

[68] 


(KUorlD  peace  anD  ©Sent  Cteatp 

a  group  of  federated  people  at  peace  within  itself. 
A  century  and  a  half  ago  our  fathers  raised  the 
cry,  "Millions  for  defense  and  not  a  sou  for 
tribute."  And  the  robber  barons  of  the  day  took 
us  at  our  word.  They  no  longer  asked  for  tribute, 
but  each  group  within  its  own  nation  exacted 
shamelessly  the  "millions  for  defense."  Under 
the  name  of  "national  defense,"  they  are  still  ex 
acting  their  remorseless  toll.  The  syndicates  for 
war  are  "bleeding  the  nations  white,"  even  as  their 
predecessors,  the  robber-barons,  bled  white  the 
principalities  in  which  they  carried  on  their  ma 
rauding  operations,  and  the  remedy  for  the  war 
tributes  of  to-day  must  be  found  as  of  old  in  fed 
eration.  The  people  of  the  earth  must  submit  to 
the  limitless  robbery  of  disguised  war,  or  else  they 
must  meet  in  mutual  trust  and  mutual  helpful 
ness.  This  is  the  age  of  science,  of  business,  of 
the  spread  of  Christian  civilization.  Only  one 
thing  can  be  more  unscientific,  unbusiness-like,  un 
civilized  and  unchristian  than  the  present  attitude 
of  the  great  powers  of  Europe  toward  each  other. 
That  one  thing  is  war  itself,  but  for  real  war  there 

[69] 


KHorlD  peace  anD  ®bmt  Cteatp 

is  no  money  to  pay.  This  condition  cannot  last. 
Science,  business,  religion,  civilization  must  as 
sert  themselves  and  the  dominance  of  any  one  of 
these  means  peace. 

And  with  the  assurance  of  peace  between  two 
at  least  of  the  great  nations,  the  earnest  of  the 
larger  peace  to  follow,  the  name  of  Ghent  will  be 
forever  honorably  associated. 


[70] 


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